High speeds prevented police from stopping killer driver

A driver high on cocaine could not be stopped before he killed two pedestrians because of the high speeds he was travelling at, police have said.

Thomas Fletcher (19) of Meadow Walk, Yaxley, and Thomas Northam (22) of Lilac Walk, Yaxley died after being hit by the speeding BMW driven by Richard Frost. The pair were walking towards Farcet on the B1091 in Yaxley on January 3 last year when Frost (39) of Dorsett Avenue in Chelmsford, Essex mowed them down after he had taken drugs.

Last month Frost pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of assault and one of money laundering.

Speaking after the guilty pleas were entered Thomas Northam’s aunts said: “The whole family have been absolutely devastated. We’re totally shocked, what we have heard today in court we did not know and we are absolutely shocked. We are shocked to find out the police could have done more and many people rang in to say he was driving erratically like that. Why, why did he not get stopped? It was an hour and a half to two hours before he hit those two boys and tragically took their lives.”

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said: “Police received two calls prior to the collision on 3 January. The first was at 9.22am, which reported a vehicle driving dangerously in John Adams Way, Boston, Lincolnshire. Checks were carried out but they did not help officers in Lincolnshire because Frost had not declared himself the new keeper of the vehicle to the DVLA. The vehicle entered Cambridgeshire and at 9.45am, Cambridgeshire police were contacted with reports a vehicle had been seen being driven dangerously on the A16 towards Peterborough, but no registration number was provided. However, a general message was given over police radio to officers in the immediate vicinity. There were no further calls prior to the collision.

“Unfortunately, a combination of the highs speeds at which Frost was travelling and a lack of meaningful information, meant officers were not able to intercept him before this tragic collision.”